Keep your coats handy. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, meaning the U.S. Will endure six more weeks of winter. (Maybe. He's often wrong.) According to legend, if it's sunny and the famous groundhog sees his shadow, he returns to his burrow and the U.S. Will endure six more weeks of winter. But if it's cloudy when the groundhog emerges on Feb. 2, the critter won't see his shadow and will leave his burrow, meaning winter will soon end and an early start to spring is coming. But flipping a coin might be as accurate as Phil. Since 1988, the groundhog has been "Right" 14 times and "Wrong" 16 times. Ref. USAToday.
15-years of satellite imagery shows snow's comings and goings. Winter snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains create the snowpacks that serve as a primary water source for the western U.S. Due to rising average temperatures, snowpacks in the Great Basin appear to be transitioning from seasonal (Predictable amount and melt rate), to ''ephemeral,'' (Short-lived, less predictable). Ephemeral snow has been poorly tracked and understood. Source 9n.
'Coldest air in a generation' hits the Midwest. Officials warned of almost instant frostbite as temperatures in the Midwest plunged below zero Wednesday thanks to a breakdown in the polar vortex.
Over the next few days, over 200 million people, or nearly 70 percent of the continental US, will see temperatures at or below freezing, and over 80 million will see or continue to see temperatures below zero.
Some state offices are closed, and postal workers won't deliver mail in 10 states. Thousands of flights have been canceled along with dozens of train services. It's so cold in some places that even beer deliveries are on hold.
With at least five deaths linked to the extreme conditions this week, authorities are urging people to bundle up, stay inside and check up on the elderly and vulnerable. Here are some ways to help the homeless when temperatures drop. Ref. USAToday.
3 dead in North Carolina tornado, millions still without power in Texas, and more ice and snow coming for much of the US. At least three people were killed in a tornado that tore through a seaside North Carolina town and millions of people in Texas remain in the dark early Tuesday amid subfreezing temperatures. Meanwhile, the "Massive" storm that caused the chaos was forecast to dump heavy snow and freezing rain in parts of the Great Lakes and Northeast while also causing thunderstorms in south Florida that could lead to flash flood, the National Weather Service said. Ref. USAToday.
Millions of Americans under winter weather alerts as 'life-threatening' storm slams the East Coast tonight and into Saturday. A powerful nor'easter was forecast for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast from Friday night into Saturday, a storm that's predicted to bring blizzard conditions to coastal areas from Virginia to Maine. In all, over 75 million Americans were under some level of winter weather alert as of Friday afternoon, which included the Chicago metro area, which was seeing its own lake-effect snowstorm Friday. Ref. USAToday.